Fugitive tint for cellulose acetate



Patented Mar. 25, 1952 FUGITIVE TINT FOR CELLULOSE ACETATE Walter E. Davis, Cumberland, Md., assignor to Celanese-Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application February 25, 1949, Serial No. 78,469

1'. Claim. 1

This invention relates to dyestuff compositions, and relates more particularly to novel dyestufi compositions resistant to bacterial growth and adapted to be employed for the tinting in fugitive shades of textile materials such as, for example, those having abasis of cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose.

In many textile operations, such as knitting, for example; it is frequently necessary or desirable to employ numerous types of yarns which not only differ from each other in twist,.or other physical characteristics, but may also differ from each other-in their chemicalnature and dyeing properties. While the various types of yarns may not appear to be different even on fairly close visual examination, when different-types of yarns are inadvertently knitted into a fabric, for example, the manner in which they show up as different is often quite startling. On the other hand, it

is often desirable to combine two or more-different types of yarns in a single knitted fabric in order to produce various patterned effects. Thus,

the correct identification of said yarns by twist,

denier, ply or chemical nature is quite important. One of' the methods widely employed for such identification is to apply a fugitive tint to the yarns, which is easily removed when desired by scouring or like treatment. The temporary presence of the tint on the yarns serves adequately to prevent confusion. The fugitive tints are conveniently applied during a winding and twisting operation, the yarns being run over a suitable furnishing device designed to apply the desired amount of tint thereto.

One of the difiiculties encountered in tinting yarns lies in the fact that the tinting compositions normally employed support bacterial growth quite freely, causing the formation of a slime or jelly in the furnishing device. This slime or jelly being on the surface of the tinting liquid prevents the tint from reaching the yarns in suitable amount, resulting in uneven tinting or no tinting at all of the yarns. Moreover, such bacterial growth necessitates frequent cleaning of the furnishing devices and replacement of the tint solution.

It is, therefore, an important object of this invention to provide improved fugitive tinting compositions which are satisfactory for tinting operations and which also possess sufficient bactericidal properties to inhibit the growth of bacteria therein.

Another object of this invention is the production of bactericidal tinting compositions adapted to be employed for the tinting of cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose textile materials, which tint compositions are-inexpensive to formulate and are sufiiciently fugi-- tive dyestuff is applied, an aqueous dispersion containing from about 1.0'to 5.0% by weight of isobutyl alcohol, fromabout 90.0 to 97.0% by weight of water and from about 0:2 to 1.0% by weight of' a dispersing agent comprising a dialkyl ester of sodium sulfosuc-cinic acid. As examples of suitable dispersing agents which maybe employed there may be mentioned the. dioctyl; the diamyl, dihexyl and dibutyl esters of sodium sulfosuccinic acid;

The amount of dyestuif employed'in said tinting compositions may vary depending upon the depth of the fugitive shade desired. Compositions containing from about 0.75 to 1.5% by weight of dyestufi on the weight of the composition are satisfactory. Since a fugitive shade is desired, the dyestuffs employed should not, of course, have any substantive affinity for the textile material being tinted. Thus, in the case of the cellulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose textile material, acid dyestuffs such as those normally employed for the dyeing of wool are satisfactory since they may be readily removed from the tinted yarn by scouring. Dyestuffs which are satisfactory are, for example, Pontacyl Violet 843 (Color Index No. 53), Xylene Brilliant Blue BC (Sandoz), C. R. Fugitive Green (Color Index No. 670) Calcocid Violet 4BXN (Color Index No. 698) Acid Fast Violet BG (Color Index No. 699) or selected direct cotton dyestuffs can also be used.

The use of isobutyl alcohol, in forming my novel fugitive tint composition, appears to be quite critical. With isobutyl alcohol present the bactericidal action of the dispersing agent is appreciably enhanced and, in addition, it does not tend to decrease the fugitivity of the dyestuff, i. e. impart thereto a degree of substantivity for the cullulose acetate or other organic derivative of cellulose textile material being tinted. Surprisingly enough, however, when other lower aliphatic alcohols such as ethyl alcohol or tertiary butyl alcohol, for example, are employed in formulating the tinting composition, the fugitivity of the dyestufis is markedly decreased. This effect is, of course, highly undesirable. In addition, the bactericidal properties of the tint composition are appreciably lessened.

In order further to illustrate my invention, but" without being limited thereto, the following example is given:

Ewample A tinting solution is prepared by adding 0.2 part by weight of the dioctyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid and 2 parts by weight of isobutyl alcohol to 96.3 parts by weight of water and then dispersing 1.5 parts by weight of Pontacyl Violet S4B (Color Index No. 53) therein. This dyestuff is the sodium salt of p-amino-benz-eneazo-l:S-dihydroxy-napthalene 3:6 disulfonic acid. Thetint is employed for tinting cellulose acetate yarns for knitting operations, the furnis'hing device comprising a porcelain roller partly immersed in a tray containing the tint. After being in use for two weeks and constantly aerated by the rotation of the porcelain roller through the solution, a bacteria count is found to be negative. Without the dispersing agent and isobutyl alcohol, a tint composition consisting of the dyestufi dispersed in water has a bacteria count of 130,000 bacteria per milliliter after fourteen days, at which time the bacterial sludge formed seriously interferes with the tint applicaton.

While the application of my novel fugitive tinting composition has been more particularly described in connection with the fugitive tinting of cellulose acetate yarns, the compositions of my invention may be also employed for the fugitive tinting of textile materials having a basis of other organic derivatives of cellulose. Examples of other organic derivatives of cellulose are cellulose esters such as cellulose propionate, cellulose butyrate, cellulose acetate-propionate and cellulose acetate-butyrate, and cellulose ethers such as ethyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose. In addition, by employing a suitable range of dyestuffs chosen for their lack of substantivity for the textile materials being tinted, the advantages of my novel bactericidal compositions may also be utilized for the fugitive tinting of cotton, silk, wool, regenerated cellulose and nylon, or synthetic linear polyamide, textile materials.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by Way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A textile tinting composition suitable for the fugitive tinting of cellulose acetate textile materials containing 1.5 parts by weight of p-aminobenzene-azo-l 8-dihydroxynaphthalene-3 6 disulfonic acid dispersed in a mixture of 96.3 parts by weight of water and 2 parts by weight of isobutyl alcohol with the aid of 0.2 part by weight of the dibutyl ester of sodium sulfosuccinic acid.

WALTER E. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,739,586 Gerngross Dec. 17, 1929 1,755,658 Lordly Apr. 22, 1930 1,852,137 Whitehead Apr. 5, 1932 2,028,091 Jaeger Jan. 14, 1936 2,207,696 Robinson July 9, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 597,394 France Aug. 29, 1925 583,349 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1946 OTHER REFERENCES The Aliphatic Alcohols, Public Health Bulletin No. 281, by W. F. Von Oettingen, published by U. S. Public Health Service of the Federal Security Agency, Washington, 1943, pages 14.3 146. 

